So far, so good.
Magneto's select team had managed to penetrate the fortress through the lower levels and were now making their way along the main corridor towards the central bunker. Nightcrawler was leading them, saying that through the bunker there was a secondary corridor on the next level, which led more or less directly to where the Cerebro unit was. That was, most likely, where to find Mindbender. If he wasn't there, they'd have to search the base. But they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.
Nightcrawler crouched near the doorway, Facade hanging upside down in front of the door, tapping it experimentally with his hand. The rest of the team quickly caught up with them.
"What is wrong?" asked Magneto.
"This should lead to the bunker, Herr Magneto," said Nightcrawler. "Uhm... at least, I think it is."
"Teleport inside. Find out."
"I can't," replied Nightcrawler meekly. "I can't... can't teleport where I... I mean I need to see where I'm going or I could materialize inside a wall or something."
"Fine. Colossus," stated Magneto, waving his hand forward.
Suddenly a shudder ran through the building, and the lights in the hallway flickered.
"Power drain," said Cyclops. "They must be preparing to use Cerebro. Its always required tons of powers to use."
"Colossus," stated Magneto, more urgently this time. Colossus obliged, stepping forward with an iron clang. He pressed his hand against the handprint identification pad. Not surprisingly, it beeped at him.
Did he really expect that to work?, thought Rogue.
Colossus smirked, trying again... but slamming his iron-plated fist clear through the handprint pad. With a soft ding, the door slid open.
Oh, thought Rogue.
Magneto's team slipped into the bunker, which was filled with all manner of crates, not cots like they'd been expecting. It was very cluttered, and the team immediately had to split up to make their way around without stepping over one another's shoes. It was very dark, lit only by a single light at the far end of the room. That end of the room had a low second floor. The floor beneath it was obscured in darkness.
Suddenly the lights lit up, and Magneto's team instinctively crouched behind crates or prepared themselves, thinking they'd been ambushed. They were right.
Rogue instantly recognized the slender woman who stood on the second floor, overlooking the room. No one else did. But then again, they hadn't had the joy of meeting her in person before.
Viper.
"Good evening, comrade mutants," she said in that oh-so-charming voice of hers, accented by her thick Russian accent. "So glad you could join us."
"Do not stand in our way," stated Magneto darkly, levitating himself up so that he hovered in mid air on the same level as Viper. Eye-to-eye, as it were. "Or you will be destroyed," he added, gesturing at Colossus and Cyclops, who'd taken up fighting stances on either side of him, crouching on top of the nearby crates.
Viper only laughed.
"I am Colonel VonStrucker," she stated, licking her sickly green lips. "Head of the Phoenix Project. And I believe you are the ones who will be destroyed. Thanks to my Furies."
"Furies?"
"Behold," added Viper, tapping a control box in her hand. The lights in the room lit up beneath her, on the first floor, and for the first time Rogue and her teammates notice the three individuals crouched their, waiting to attack. In eerie unison, the three Furies stood, regarding the others in the room coldly. Rogue quickly sized up her opponents.
The one on the left was the smallest of the three, clad in skin-tight black armor that clung to her body. Her hair was cut short, with brown bangs across her sky-blue eyes. It was shaved close along her left ear, and even from this distance Rogue could make out the tiny marks that indicated recent surgery. Strapped to her wrists she had a pair of deadly punching daggers.
The one on the right was the tallest by a few inches, also with short, military cut red hair. Her expression seemed... duller, somehow. Like she wasn't completely awake. Or worse, drugged. She was tall, statuesque... and immediately familiar. She bore an identical shaved spot behind her left ear, as well as the tiny marks. She bore no weapons, just the same black skintight armor.
The middle one peered out with cold, very cold green eyes. She among the three seemed to have the most sentience, the others were too mindless. She shared the characteristics of body armor and shaved hair, though hers was auburn and white.
Oh my god, thought Rogue. Her mind was reeling. This was worse than the realization she'd been sent into another dimension. Worse than when she'd heard her alternate self was dead. She faltered, nearly fainting. This was far, far worse. Identifying her opponents.
Kitty... Jean... and... and... HERSELF?!
Rogue fainted right away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrea VonStrucker smirked as she left the room, leaving the mutant intruders to her Furies. Well, truthfully, hers and Deborah's. The woman certainly had her talents, and making mutants into killers was highly among them. That and of course General Wraith's control chips.
Phoenix project had initially been to control the inherent powers of the mutant named Jean Grey. She'd proven most difficult, however. So they'd tried to use brainwashing. Unfortunately, they'd washed a little too well, and obliterated her telepathic abilities. The initial idea was to get rid of her... but Andrea had argued that she could still have her uses... as an assassin. One who could kill at a distance. Together with the other two mutant girls, they'd become Colonel VonStruckers Furies.
They'd truly been good finds, all of them. Rogue and Shadowcat had been easy finds after the Battle of Northbrook... stolen away from under the mutants noses. And Jean had been all but handed over by her family once they'd found out what a freak she was. And the mutants had thought them dead. Or in Jean's case, that they'd never existed.
They had needed to capture Mindbender to use the final weapon, but it was worth it. Now it was all coming to a close.
And today was their final hour. If they could kill all the mutants, and especially Magneto... then they'd have won the war for the humans.
A crash sounded from behind her, and she just smirked and kept on walking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cyclops growled, glancing from one of the Furies to the other. Quickly he needed to form a plan, because they were slowly advancing on him and the others. And now Rogue had chosen the best of times to faint. Just wonderful. He'd deal with that later. He took up a position to keep guard on her though. Not that he hadn't taken quite a shock to his own system.
"Rogue?" he asked, shocked to his core. She didn't reply. Her lip was in a hard frown, and he'd never seen her look so angry. And directed at him, no less. Mind control, no doubt... just like Nightcrawler. Great. He'd have to knock her out, sort this out later. But if the others got involved in the fight, she might get hurt.
"Magneto! Take Kurt and go on without us! Get Mindbender, we'll handle the Furies," he said, indicating himself, Colossus and Facade.
Magneto nodded, levitating up and over the three Furies and out of the door. Nightcrawler ported after him... leaving the Furies and the mutant warriors as they launched themselves at one another.
Colossus hurled his fist at the tiny brunette, hoping to finish her off quickly. She was the only one armed, as well. However, to his surprise, his fist went clear through her body as she stood perfectly still, not even flinching. Smirk, she side-stepped, flipping backwards and slamming her boot hard against Colossus's chin in a vicious kick, sending him reeling. It hadn't hurt... it took a lot more than that to hurt the metal-plated warrior... but if forced him to change his tactics.
Facade lunged at the red-headed girl, stunned when he found himself floating in mid-air. The redhead smirked, gesturing with her hand and hurling Facade to slam headfirst into his metal-platted comrade, rendering him unconscious. A similar gesture of her hands, and she deflected the crimson energy blast that nearly struck her, sending it flying off harmlessly towards the ceiling.
"Damn," cursed Cyclops. Immediately he ducked another blow from his Rogue, blocking another swing of her leg to prevent himself from being kicked. She hadn't been slouching, wherever she'd been these past few years. She'd kept in tip-top shape. So it was he was being forced back, dodging kicks and punches that came with cold, almost mechanical precision. His Rogue's expression never changed, she never took her eyes off him. Normally he'd be flattered, now he was terrified.
His Rogue smirked and dropped down to her knees, whirling out her foot in a broom sweep, knocking Cyclops's legs out from underneath him. She leapt up, preparing to dive down and finish him off... when a shoulder knocked into her side and sent Rogue flying. Colossus smirked, giving Cyclops a hand up.
"Trouble with the brunette?" asked Cyclops, glancing around. Colossus nodded. No sign of either of the girls. They were hiding. But the redhead was still visible. She didn't even try to hide. She was floating in the air.
"So, they're mutants. Don't underestimate them," stated Cyclops. Again, Colossus nodded. "Let's see just how much that redhead can bench," he said with a smirk.
Colossus nodded, and grinned, rushing towards Jean, charging, his footsteps making the ground shake as he leapt up. She smirked, holding out her hand, and he froze in mid-air... then buckled. Jean's frown deepened, and she held out both her hands to try and keep Colossus frozen in mid-air. That's when Cyclops struck, launching an optic blast that slammed her full force in the stomach, sending Jean flying the air to slam against the ceiling. Both she and Colossus dropped to the ground, Colossus gracefully on his feet, Jean into a crate with a sickening crunch. She didn't appear dead, but she was out. They could finish her off later, Cyclops decided.
They had bigger fish to fry.
As if his thoughts had summoned her, the brunette suddenly attacked, springing clear through a sack of crates and slashing her blades at Cyclops, ripping through his legs and sending him to the ground. Colossus quickly retaliated but again, it was like striking air. She moved like a shadow as she vanished into the ground once more.
Colossus suddenly felt a cold hand press against the back of his neck, and knew no more... he promptly collapsed, as the dark Rogue slipped back on her glove.
Cyclops glanced around but found no one. Not friend or foe. Grunting, he stumbled into the open. He needed to see them coming. A groan from one side alerted him as he saw one of them start to rise... but before he snapped off an optic shot he saw it was Rogue... the other Rogue, the alternate Rogue. His ally at the moment. Damnit, thinking like that made his head hurt. His Rogue was the enemy, and this strange Rogue was his ally? It didn't make any sense!
"Cyclops!" she shouted, pointing behind him. He wasted no time, lashing out with his elbow blindly, barely managing to connect this time with a solid stomach. Before the brunette could recover he'd grabbed her neck and flung her over his shoulder, slamming her hard against the wall. Right into the electronic handpad. It shattered, electrical sparks flying everywhere. The brunette screamed, and collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
Rogue smiled, breathing a sigh of relief, and started to make her way to rejoin Cyclops... before she saw a dark silhouette rise up behind him and slam an iron pole upside his head, knocking him unconscious. Rogue staggered, her eyes wide with disbelief, and again she had to remind herself not to faint.
Alone, Rogue to face the final remaining Fury. Her opponent. Her self.
Author's Notes:
Surprised?! Hah, I thought so. If Jean and Kitty didn't do it for you, then Rogue meeting herself should have blown all your frickin' minds out of the frickin' water! Andrea VonStrucker is, of course, Viper's real name. Her daddy didn't name her Viper, ya know. Next time... prepare for the clash of Rogue's. Rogue vs. Rogue. Now -that's- good fight material. For early clarification, in the next chapter, our Rogue will be known as that, and AU Rogue known as the Fury. So you don't get confused.
Todd fan: Damn straight it does, as long as its tastefully carried out and meaningful. Or Jean's. But I digress. Glad you like my use of the super humans. Heh. I always wondered to myself, how would Duncan, Taryn, and Paul act if -they- had been mutants?
Risty: Storm's awesome, in my humble opinion. She's too nice to kill someone in cold blood, no matter what you do to her. Middle of a fight, wrath of Goddess, oh hell yeah, I'd run. But she's still nicer than most of the others. Glad you enjoyed her, Angel (hehe, butterfly), and Iceman (whom I could've given far lamer puns).
Nessie6: I am on a roll, aren't I? Fight scenes do that for me. And there ya go... Rogue... Magneto... and far more! Poor Lance. But look who I added! He'll turn that frown upside down soon.
ViciousAssassin: Well, back we go to the main plotline. Glad of course you enjoy the battle and characterization of all those involved. I do try. Apparently, I succeed, but I doubt myself often. Meh. Enjoy what's next. If you like character growth, you'll love it.
DoubleL27: I only saw it again recently, having never enjoyed much first season. But it did make me think about this story, and wonder what would've happened to those two if they'd stayed friends. And yeah, Scaleface and Berzerker certainly had some sort of relationship while he was in the Morlocks. Pity he left.
Son of Logan and Ororo: That's one Marvel-comic-made-into-a-movie I've no desire to see. But that's just me. So I wouldn't know. I heard the rules of combat from a friend of mine in an Aikido class.
Spectra2: Then pass along a sugar cookie to good ol' lovable Comet-hime, for creating Willow, Masque and Misery. She deserves credit for such wonderful OC's. I'll take my sugar cookie and save it for the end of this story.
Elrohirthewriter: Glad you're enjoying the OC's and canon characters, I do try my best with them considering they're not mine. Hope your muse is enjoying the slaughter despite the wear and tear on her tool. I know I am. Canada? Alias? Huh?! Make sense, damnit!
Comet-hime: That is unbelievable flattering, and thank you. Glad I could take your OC and portray her at least half well as her own creator. And yeah, last line definitely made me smirk evilly too. But I'm twisted like that. There'll be more Willow later. Not much, but just a bit more before I hand her back to you so you can work on 'Triangle.'
Rogue14: Mmm... well maybe something close to that. But at least you know your namesake won't be harmed. Then again, look up. Think maybe she will be? One of 'em at least? Or maybe one of the other eleven? (The joke being that you're the fourteenth clone, like X23... eleven more... get it?)
DaughterofDeath: I don't even want to imagine what your family gatherings must be like. Well, more chapters coming, and past that Graduation… though unfortunately less work for your parents in that.
X00001: Perhaps, but recall if you will, if Mindbender activates the Dark Cerebro, it doesn't matter how many humans the mutants kill. They'll all be dead anyway. Every single last one, every where on the planet. All of them.